123 Leader
of the Australian Democrats (Senator Allison): To move—That
the Senate—

(a) affirms:

(i) its
support for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women and, in particular, Article 12 that refers to the need
to ensure ‘access to health care services, including those related
to family planning’,

(ii) the
principle that health decisions should be made by those most closely
involved with them, and

(iii) its
respect for the right of women to make decisions regarding their fertility,
including unplanned pregnancies, based on their life situations, personal
values and beliefs;

(b) notes
that in the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (2003), 81.2 per cent
of Australians agreed that women should have the right to choose an
abortion, 9 per cent disagreed and 10 per cent were undecided;

(c) encourages:

(i) the
provision of unbiased, relevant and accurate information for women experiencing
unwanted pregnancy, without coercion,

(ii) accurate
advice and support for women to act on their own values in making reproductive
decisions, whether they be adoption, motherhood or termination of pregnancy,
including non-directive, all-options counselling,

(iii) improvements
in the evaluation of, and access to, advice and support on contraceptive
choices,

(iv) measures to ensure a wide variety
of contraceptive measures are accessible and affordable, and that the
privacy of women and men accessing such measures is protected,

(v) the
more ready availability of emergency contraception from a variety of
settings, and

(vi) lifelong
sexuality and health education;

(d) calls
on the Government to work with state and territory governments to develop:

(i) a
thorough and inclusive national framework of evidence-based and age-appropriate
sex education in all schools, and

(ii) national
standards for pregnancy counselling services; and

(e) supports
the privacy of medical records for reproductive health, including abortion
and access to Medicare rebates for termination services.